


Never Have I Ever Been in a Ghost Band

by kakaiescheck



Series: Juke / JATP [4]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Everyone Is Alive, Friendship, Humor, Never Have I Ever, Past Alex Mercer/Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Video, and everything's great, cuz they came to life, for press u know the deal, it's an interesting thing, they're famous enough for that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:34:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28921407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kakaiescheck/pseuds/kakaiescheck
Summary: A few years later, the boys are alive and JATP is doing well enough to make those completely cliché videos, including a game of Never Have I Ever with Teen Vogue, which may reveal more of themselves than they had planned.
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Juke / JATP [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2166840
Comments: 19
Kudos: 272
Collections: Random_booklovers favourite band fics





	Never Have I Ever Been in a Ghost Band

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, that's me, with a brand new hiperfixation. For context, the boys magically became alive again and now they're a band rising to fame, opening shows and headlining their own tour across North America. Jukebox's openly together, everything's completely fine.

"Hi!" Reggie's excited voice introduces the video.

Against a light yellow background, a maroon couch holds the bandmembers from left to right: Reggie, Julie, Luke, and Alex. There isn't a lot of space in between them, seeing as the couch was made for three people.

Luke hits the back of Reggie's head. "That's Julie's line."

"That's _always_ Julie's line."

"And for good reason," Alex adds.

There is a brief confusion of limbs as Luke tries to reach Reggie, and then the video cuts to the four of them sitting amicably and smiling. Julie waves, "Hey, we're Julie and the Phantoms and today we're gonna be playing Never Have I Ever with Teen Vogue!"

A pop, generic song starts playing as the screen shows Teen Vogue's logo.

It cuts to a zoom of Luke's face as he grabs his _I have / Never_ plaque. "Aren't we supposed to have drinks or something?"

It cuts back to Teen Vogue's generic backscreen with the text: _We invited the members of Julie and the Phantoms for a round of friendly Never Have I Ever_.

Back to the band, now they each have their own plaque. A white text appears in the bottom half of the screen: _Never have I ever played Never Have I Ever_. Only Julie turns her plaque to _I have_ , then her eyes widen. "But, like, the ten-fingers version! In middle school."

"Can Flynn confirm that for us?" Alex asks.

"Flynn's the one who made me play."

_Never have I ever forgotten the lyrics to a song while performing it on stage._

Luke is the only one showing _Never_ , with a smug smile. Reggie eyes his plaque. "That can't be true."

"I swear."

Julie tries to turn his plaque, but he won't let her. "No, no, no, _Luke_! Stop lying."

Alex joins in on the fight. "Man, it's statistically impossible for you to have _never_ forgotten a single _word_ after so many shows and gigs."

"I forgot the whole intro to Bright once!" Julie insists.

"Yeah, but that sounds like a _you_ problem," Luke yanks his plaque out of her reach and raises it above his head.

Reggie slaps his own thigh and gasps. "Oh, oh! You're so lying. There was that one time you forgot to sing the bridge in Finally Free."

Luke gapes for a second, enough for Alex to turn his plaque. Nearly pouting, Luke turns it back to _Never_. "I didn't forget the words. I forgot to sing. Next question?"

_Never have I ever had a wardrobe malfunction before going on stage._

"Luke has a wardrobe malfunction every day in his day-to-day life," Alex points out, holding out the _Never_ side, and so is Reggie. "In all seriousness, though," he adds over Julie and Reggie's giggles, "this guy here," he points to his right, "got his… What do I even call that thing you wear on your arm? Is that a bandana? It's way too long."

"It's the perfect length, thank you very much."

"Okay. So. It got stuck in a dressing room door once, right as we were walking to the stage, and he refused to just take it off or let us cut it out. Took three extra people and ten whole minutes to untangle it."

"But did you die?"

Alex hits Luke over the head with his plaque.

"I have one, like, every week," Julie says, "but mostly cuz I like accessorizing and something usually goes wrong. A bracelet falls out, a ring gets stuck in my dress, that sort of thing. Thank _God_ nothing embarrassing yet."

_Never have I ever had someone write a song about me._

Reggie grimaces and shows _I have_ , while Julie does the same, only blushing and smiling. Alex holds up the _Never_ sign and Luke narrows his eyes. "Dude. C'mon." Luke turns Alex's side to _I have_.

"Aww," Reggie croons.

Julie elbows Luke, who hasn't raised his plaque yet. He is confused for a moment, before giving a million-dollar grin to the camera and showing _I have_. "And it's the best song ever by the best person ever, who just so happens to be sitting next to me and staring at the floor, pretending that I'm not talking about her. You'll get to hear it on our next album," he winks.

Alex winks as well. "Out on June 21st."

"Tell your friends!" Reggie completes.

_Never have I ever finished a family-size of junk food alone._

Everybody raises _I have_.

"You mean today or this past week?" Julie asks.

_Never have I ever broken a bone._

Reggie and Luke raise _I have_.

"Aaaand nobody is surprised," Alex announces.

Luke shrugged. "It wasn't anything bad. I just thought I was Superman – you know, like every five-year-old – and fell on my wrist when I jumped from the back of the couch."

"What about that time you had to wear that ridiculous boot?"

"I didn't break my ankle. Just dislocated."

"And the cast in your arm in sixth grade? And how you cried for weeks because you couldn't play?"

"… alright, I might've broken it a little bit."

The camera focuses on Reggie, while the other two keep bickering in the background. "Fell off the slide in the park."

_Never have I ever burnt food I was cooking for someone else._

Immediately, Luke wrestles Julie to turn her plaque to _I have_.

"Luke!"

"Don't deny it!"

"I didn't burn it!"

"My sense of smell and taste say otherwise!"

"You still ate it!"

"The question wasn't if the person _ate_ the burnt food."

_Never have I ever tasted dog or cat food._

There was a moment of silence as they all raised their answers. Then they turned to Reggie's _I have_ with varying expressions of shock and disgust.

"Dude?" Alex frowned.

He shrugged. "I was just curious! I mean, they have to eat it their whole lives! And they seem to like it, too. How bad could it be?"

Another silence, until Julie sighed. "How bad was it?"

"Bad. I wouldn't recommend it."

_Never have I ever tried a cheesy pick-up line._

At first, only Reggie raised _I have_. Then Alex glanced to his side and stretched over Luke to turn Julie's plaque. "You turn that thing right around, miss. I know stuff."

"Wha…!"

"Seventh grade? On a certain blonde?"

Julie kept gaping. "How do you know about that?!"

"I have my sources."

Luke grabbed the edge of her plaque with the tips of his fingers and turned it to _Never_ again. "I liked the first answer better."

"Too bad I'm only here to expose you," Alex says and turns both Julie and Luke's plaque.

"Oh, okay, then I guess you won't mind me asking your boyfriend how those first meetings _really_ went, yeah?"

"Ask away. I'm way too anxious to make a move and you of all people should know that."

_Never have I ever dated someone that another band member dated._

They all wore different versions of the same hesitant expression. The camera focuses on each: Luke slightly panicked, Reggie holding back his chuckles, Julie gaping, and Alex opening and closing his mouth. It bounces back between Julie and Alex as they eye each other, saying a couple of incoherent words, until at last they both raise the _I have_ side.

Luke scrunches up his face in thought and Reggie waves around his _Never_ , the only one openly amused by the situation. The camera switches between Julie and Alex again, they both looking at Luke seated in between them, until the guitarist cracks and raises _Never_ , "Alright, I can explain."

It cuts to a wider panel. There is some talking from behind the scenes that makes Julie snort. Luke waves his plaque and focuses on the camera. "We were fourteen, okay?"

"We sort of went through the same crisis," Alex adds. "Like, _do_ I like boys?"

"You guys haven't seen pictures, but like, Alex didn't go through that awkward tween phase. He's always been this cute, I'm telling you. So we thought we'd…" he gestures.

"Lasted just a couple of months, though."

"Geez, you sound relieved."

Alex points his plaque to the camera. "We learned a couple of things from that. One: we definitely liked boys. And two: we definitely didn't like each other."

"How…?" Julie frowns. "How do you even draw that conclusion?"

Reggie bursts into laughter.

_Never have I ever walked in on another band member changing._

They all raise _I have_.

"Some things you just can't unsee," Alex says.

Luke shrugs. "Ain't a tour bus without a few of those."

_Never have I ever sent a screenshot to the wrong person._

Julie is the only one confessing to doing so. "I deleted it quickly, though. Like, I realized just as I sent it, you know? But I almost, you know, deleted it just for myself. That really shouldn't be an option."

_Never have I ever trashed a hotel room._

The boys draw out a few words in a high-pitched voice.

"They have," Julie says, unimpressed.

"I wouldn't call it _trashing_ …"

"Reg…"

"But we cleaned it up afterwards!" Alex tries to save face. "It was just a moment of adrenaline, of _Is this really happening_? Then we got a hold on ourselves."

" _After_ trashing the hotel room."

"Julie!"

_Never have I ever cheated on a test._

Alex raises his _Never_ with a proud smile. "I've always been pretty trustworthy."

"You were always way too afraid of getting caught to even try," Luke argues, holding his _I have_.

Both Reggie and Julie hold up _Never_. Luke does a double-take and narrows his eyes at the two. After a short moment of consideration, he turns to the camera. "I know for a fact that one of them is lying. I'll let you guys fight over that."

_Never have I ever done detention_

"I mean…" Reggie looks at the guys and they all raise _I have_. He grins. "Yeah. Together, most of the times."

_Never have I ever lied to a police officer._

"This is making me look bad," Luke mumbles to his plaque before sighing and showing _I have_. When Julie does the same, though, he gasps and smirks, "Whoa, I didn't know we had such a rule-breaker among us!"

"Stop it," she hits him with the plaque. "It was to get my friend out of a parking ticket."

"Mm-hm. Sure, Julie."

"Are _you_ gonna share your story, bad boy supreme?"

"… is your dad gonna watch this?"

_Never have I ever drunk before turning 21._

"I mean," Alex starts, "we're all under 21, so the question should really be if any of us has ever drunk."

It zooms in on Julie. "Does a sip of champagne on New Year's count?" There is a beat of silence. "I mean, I haven't," she raises _Never_ with an innocent face, "just thought I'd ask."

"If that counts," Reggie shows _I have_.

Alex holds up his _Never_ and looks pointedly at Luke, who just keeps opening and closing his mouth while he focuses on something behind the camera. "Do you guys just come up with these on the spot or something? Like, get our answers and then choose the next question based on that? I feel very and personally attacked by, like, the last four questions."

"They are valid questions, Luke," the blonde points out.

He stammers. Then raises _I have_ and is quick to turn to the camera. "It was, like, _two_ beers, man! After a gig. If you're Mr. Molina watching, could you just… forget about the last minute or so of this interview? Sir?"

Julie lets out a laughter she had been holding in for a while.

_Never have I ever gone out wearing a disguise to not be recognized._

"Define 'disguise'," Alex asks. "Do hats to hide our hair count? Hoodies?"

Luke raises _I have_. "I mean, it's usually a good idea to go around incognito before a show, especially if you'll be walking around that area. But, like, I dunno what you mean by a full disguise, man. I don't put on a wig," he chuckled.

Julie studies him. "We should try it some day."

" _No_."

_Never have I ever worn the same jeans for a week._

"A _week_?" Alex exclaims. "That's way too long, no," he raises _Never_ , then hesitates. He has an inner battle, but it resolves itself quickly and he keeps his answer.

The other three show _I have_ , although Julie's face seems sad through her smile.

The scene cuts, and now Luke has a casual arm on top of the backrest behind Julie as she speaks. "Thank you so much for playing _Never Have I Ever_ with us! That's enough of embarrassing ourselves for now."

"Yeah, but don't forget to check out our new album, out on June 21st," Luke adds, followed by Alex and Reggie.

"Available for pre-order now!"

"Tell your friends!"

Their image fades out of focus as the generic pop song plays in the background and thumbnails of related videos appear in the corners. You can still make out Luke using his arm on the couch to pull Julie to him, overcalculating it a bit and causing them both to fall on Alex. Reggie simply pulls Julie's feet into his lap to make her lose her balance. The video cuts out before she falls.


End file.
